MP echoes calls for PSLE to be scrapped
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beanbear:
I found myself having to use all of my logical/inferential skills honed from my 4 years of doing university philosophy and process skills as an adult to help my DS revise his PSLE. I didn't know the content for Science but I used lots of inquiry skills to help DS interpret what the science questions are asking and to help hone his thinking skills. How many parents would be able to do this? How many teachers would be able to do this? I'm not asking this as a way to brag. I mean to say this in a way to question the level of standards we are pitching the PSLE and overal testing standards at P5 & P6. I think there a gap in the way we are preparing our kids if the aim of the MOE is to test to such high levels of inferential thinking and native speakers' level of English.[/quote]So therefore, the PSLE is skewed towards parents that have more resources / better educated. Yup. Sad country we live in. What was that word again.... social mobility? Aha. Don't think it has gotten any better in the past 20 years. National conversation my foot.Nebbermind:
Is it really possible to teach less, learn more?
SThe Straits Times
Published on Oct 01, 2012
[quote] BEFORE we try to reinvent our education system, we ought to ask ourselves: Is it really possible to teach less and learn more?
I feel sorry for my children; they are deprived of their childhood by the education system.
Kelvin Lee -
The standard set for PSLE English exam is too difficult for the kids. They are just 11+/12 years of age. What level of inferential thinking can kids possibly have? What is MOE thinking when it sets such high expectations? Is it testing humans or computers?
If this is considered national conversation, pls spare us. There is nothing to discuss since it’s already decided. Btw, the PSLE English paper 1 on Sep 27 was a killer…and it is the first paper. Both questions (pic and continuous compo) were equally tough. -
beanbear:
Agreed. I had to research on the different learning styles to accomodate DC learning abilities. I also tried to incalcate in them habits which will make them more effective and efficient eg 6 Thinking Hats, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, etc.Nebbermind:
Is it really possible to teach less, learn more?
I found myself having to use all of my logical/inferential skills honed from my 4 years of doing university philosophy and process skills as an adult to help my DS revise his PSLE. I didn't know the content for Science but I used lots of inquiry skills to help DS interpret what the science questions are asking and to help hone his thinking skills. How many parents would be able to do this? How many teachers would be able to do this? I'm not asking this as a way to brag. I mean to say this in a way to question the level of standards we are pitching the PSLE and overal testing standards at P5 & P6. I think there a gap in the way we are preparing our kids if the aim of the MOE is to test to such high levels of inferential thinking and native speakers' level of English.
I would also encourage them to read books like Who Moved My Cheese, Tuesdays with Morrie, Who Will Cry For Me If I Die, etc. and reflect upon the message, philosophy behind the book. I do the same for TV programs where I will pick out the relevant TV programs for them daily. They will watch the simpler programs themselves but I will try to accompany them for programs with deeper meaning. We also watch the local channels of other countries to obtain a better feel of their grassroot issues, concerns as well as for them to have a better appreciation of their lives as well as other cultures.
Like yourself, I also feel that parents are drawing on their skills and experience to help their DC and with each generation, the gap will become wider. Perhaps the skills that are crucial to \"Teach Less, Learn More\" should be specifically taught to the students. Perhaps it is being taught currently, but not all students are aware of what they are being taught as it may be taught in a very general manner. -
One critical skill eg in English comprehension is mining for meaning. I don’t know how it is taught to my ds at school but I knew he was definitely not picking up the skills required at school. He was scoring 4 out of 20 for school tests & regular assignments. After I taught him to ask specific questions as he read each line, and to do annotation and to interpret questions, he moved up to 14 out of 20 at the next assignment given. This is literally within 2 lessons of being TAUGHT these skills.
I didn’t know at first how to teach my son to do better in comprehension as I was unconsciously competent as an English speaker. I always scored well in English but I didn’t quite know how to teach. Obviously right? I’m a parent not a trained teacher. Seeing my child failing miserably and coming from an English speaking family and he who was reading books daily, it’s only with grt frustration that I felt I had to pull up my own sleeves and teach my son. I had to attend a very expensive 2-hr workshop conducted by a teacher to teachers. How did I learn about this teacher? From another parent at ksp.
So what does this tell u? Teaching is either inadequate or teachers are not properly trained to teach skills needed by students. Interesting I got ds to apply the same techniques to Chinese comprehension and he was able to score almost full marks for that section when previously was was again barely passing.
Ive lost trust in schools to teach adequately not when they r testing the kind of skills needed to pass or do well. I now don’t take chances with ds3 who is in p1. He reads even more widely than my older 2 kids, has amazing vocabulary and is in stellar prog. But I’ve been burnt as a parent. I tutor him myself when previously my older 2 had no tuition for English from P1-4. I’ve had to arm myself with a whole shelf of English grammar reference books and assessments. He reads lots and listens for hours of audio CDs. Feels like I’m now an English tutor myself. Wished I didn’t need to. Because I’d rather hv my kids learn English unconsciously when they r with me, picking up vocabulary and sentence structure through our daily conversations. But this kind of induction will not b adequate to help my child pass English at p5. -
beanbear:
You have echoed my exact feelings. Coming from an English-speaking family,I didn't know at first how to teach my son to do better in comprehension as I was unconsciously competent as an English speaker. I always scored well in English but I didn't quite know how to teach. Obviously right? I'm a parent not a trained teacher. Seeing my child failing miserably and coming from an English speaking family and he who was reading books daily, it's only with grt frustration that I felt I had to pull up my own sleeves and teach my son. I had to attend a very expensive 2-hr workshop conducted by a teacher to teachers. How did I learn about this teacher? From another parent at ksp.
So what does this tell u? Teaching is either inadequate or teachers are not properly trained to teach skills needed by students. Interesting I got ds to apply the same techniques to Chinese comprehension and he was able to score almost full marks for that section when previously was was again barely passing.
Ive lost trust in schools to teach adequately not when they r testing the kind of skills needed to pass or do well. I now don't take chances with ds3 who is in p1. He reads even more widely than my older 2 kids, has amazing vocabulary and is in stellar prog. But I've been burnt as a parent. I tutor him myself when previously my older 2 had no tuition for English from P1-4. I've had to arm myself with a whole shelf of English grammar reference books and assessments. He reads lots and listens for hours of audio CDs. Feels like I'm now an English tutor myself. Wished I didn't need to. Because I'd rather hv my kids learn English unconsciously when they r with me, picking up vocabulary and sentence structure through our daily conversations. But this kind of induction will not b adequate to help my child pass English at p5.
it's frustrating to see my son struggling with English comprehension.
However, I salute your dedication to attend a workshop. It's not an easy task to take on this heavy responsibility.
There is a skill to handle comprehension but my son wasn't taught that in school. Comprehension OE is a 20 mark section. I paid a highly experienced lady for her to teach my son that skill. -
Yes, it’s a lot of application. However I feel the teachers are not trained for this. It CAN be done, but the way things are taught does not support it at all.
Instead of leading the children to discover concepts, they try to let them memorise different ways of solving sums and questions by looking out for key words in the questions. So they are trying to help kids to score by memorizing strategies, cued by key words, instead of really understanding concepts. So teach less but a lot more gongfu styles to memorize.
(didn’t know P6 English is so tough! Must get my hands on some prelim papers to have a peek!) -
ammonite:
YES, I agree. PSLE English is no walk in the park.Instead of leading the children to discover concepts, they try to let them memorise different ways of solving sums and questions by looking out for key words in the questions. So they are trying to help kids to score by memorizing strategies, cued by key words, instead of really understanding concepts. So teach less but a lot more gongfu styles to memorize.
(didn't know P6 English is so tough! Must get my hands on some prelim papers to have a peek!)
The key sections in PSLE are comprehension OE, compre cloze, oral, compo bcos these carry heavy weightage. Not that the rest are unimportant though. -
As far as I know, inferential type qns start as early as P1 exams coz I ever asked the cher if that is the expectation of P1 English these days.
Not sure how they can go about teaching it coz it really depends on kid’s ability to link up the info in the passage and ‘guess’ the answer. -
Inference skills and cause and effect connections can be taught/introduced at P1 but dunno if there’s enough time taking into account the number of kids per class
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SAHM_TAN:
Inference skills and cause and effect connections can be taught/introduced at P1 but dunno if there's enough time taking into account the number of kids per class
No doubt it can be taught but every kid's command of English is different.
It's like we can teach the kids the moves of each chess piece...but to play the game well still need alot of brain power.
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